Pros and Cons on Judge Sotomayor being appointed to the ...



Pros and Cons on Judge Sotomayor being appointed to the Supreme Court

| |Pros |Cons |

|Judge’s role |“[t]he duty of a judge is to follow the law, not to |“Appeals Court is where policy is made” .Sonia|

| |question its plain terms. I do not believe that Congress |Sotomayor . .[1 2005] |

| |wishes us to disregard the plain language of any statute or| |

| |to invent exceptions to the statutes it has created. . . . | |

| |But even if Congress had doubts about the wisdom of | |

| |subjecting felony disenfranchisement laws to the results | |

| |test of § 2, I trust that Congress would prefer to make any| |

| |needed changes itself, rather than have courts do so for | |

| |it.” | |

| |Sonia Sotomayor in dissenting opinion of Hayden v. Pataki | |

| |.[8 2006] | |

|Qualifications |“More experience as a judge than any of current Supreme | |

| |court when they were first appointed” .[2 2009] President | |

| |Obama | |

|Abortion stance |Upheld Mexico City policy which limits federal funds for |Has never made an actual ruling on abortion |

| |overseas abortions.[3 2002] |rights.[5 2009] |

| | |(President Obama signed an executive order |

| | |rescinding the Mexico City policy) |

|Bi-partisan support |Appointed to Federal District Court in Southern NY by |Sonia was recommended for the federal |

| |Republican President Bush Sr (1992) and to 2nd Circuit |positionby Democratic New York Senator Daniel |

| |Court of appeals by Democratic President Clinton (1998) .[4|Patrick Moynihan.[6] Moynihan had an |

| |1992, 1998] |arrangement with his fellow New York Senator, |

| | |Republican Al D'Amato, whereby he would get to|

| | |choose roughly one out of every four New York |

| | |district court seats even though a Republican |

| | |was in the White House.[33][43][44] Moynihan |

| | |also wanted to fulfill a public promise he had|

| | |made to get a Hispanic judge appointed for New|

| | |York.[15] |

| | |.[12 1992] |

|Stance on 1st Amendment |Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, 1st amendment rights |Dissenting opinion: Pappas v. Giuliani, Sonia |

| |not violated, based on earlier ruling in Planned Parenthood|validated free speech of employee on own time,|

| |Federation of America, Inc v. Agency for International |even though materials used were racist and |

| |Development |bigoted.[6 2009] |

| |****Kraham v. Lippman, an opinion holding that a rule |In a 2008 case known as Doe v. Mukasey, |

| |prohibiting high-ranking political party officials from |Sotomayor ruled that FBI "national-security |

| |receiving court fiduciary appointments in New York state |letters" asking electronic-communications |

| |courts did not violate the plaintiff’s right to freedom of |service providers to furnish the Bureau with |

| |political association.  .[7 2009] |the records of a criminal or terrorist |

| | |suspect, violated the First Amendment |

|Stance on 2nd Amendment | |Sonia Sotomayor wrote in Maloney v. Cuomo: |

| | |"The Second Amendment applies only to |

| | |limitations the federal government seeks to |

| | |impose on this right . . . not upon that of |

| | |the state." .[9 2009] |

|Racial Discrimination | |Ricci v. DeStefano 2009 Upheld NYC right to |

| | |deny merit test based promotions to whites |

| | |since minorities didn’t pass the test.[10 |

| | |2009] |

| | | |

| | |"Our gender and national origins may and will |

| | |make a difference in our judging . . .I would |

| | |hope that a wise Latina woman with the |

| | |richness of her experience would more often |

| | |than not reach a better conclusion than a |

| | |white male who hasn't lived that life. . . our|

| | |gender and national origins may and will make |

| | |a difference in our judging…. Personal |

| | |experiences affect the facts that judges |

| | |choose to see.”" .[12 2001] |

| | |Sonia Sotomayor |

| | |Berkeley Law School 2001 |

|Circuit court Decisions | |‘5 of Sotomayor’s decisions have been |

|appealed to Supreme Ct | |appealed, and 3 have been overturned with one |

| | |more likely and one not filed yet: |

| | |*Granholm v. Heald |

| | |(Swedenburg v. Kelly) 2004 overturned |

| | | |

| | |*Malesko v. Correctional Services Corp 2000 |

| | |(overturned) |

| | | |

| | |*Riverkeeper v. EPA 2007—Overturned |

| | | |

| | |*Ricci v. DeStefano 2009(likely to be |

| | |overturned in June) |

| | | |

| | |*Maloney v. Cuomo (will be filed in June) .[11|

| | |2009] |

|Political Position |Democrat; June 1998, The Wall Street Journal editorial page denounced her as a left-wing judicial |

| |activist; Sotomayor's circuit court rulings have led to her being considered a political centrist by the |

| |American Bar Association Journal[36][62] and other sources and organizations.[36][49][62][63][64][65] |

| |Several lawyers, legal experts, and news organizations, however, identify her as someone who has liberal |

| |inclinations.[66][67][68] |

Compiled by Holly Craw 5/31/09

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download